Miguel Rodriguez

Miguel Rodriguez

Engineering leader, AI systems builder, researcher.

I build practical AI systems at the intersection of foundation models, robotics and industrial engineering. My background spans embedded systems, cloud platforms, engineering leadership, industrial digitalization and, increasingly, multi-agent and on-device AI.

Currently interested in making frontier AI useful in real-world systems: reliable agent orchestration, private/on-device inference, robotics and industrial applications.

Career & Projects

2016 — 2026

BigBear Engineering GmbH

Founder & Engineering Consultant · Zürich

Engineering consultancy spanning AI infrastructure and industrial digitalization.

2025 — present
Flotilla

Open-source multi-agent coordination framework: Claude, Gemini and open-weight models working as a coordinated fleet with shared state, cross-model peer review and operational safeguards.

2024 — present
Robot Ross

Cyber-physical AI system combining a Huenit robot arm, model reasoning, locally hosted Apertus and a G-code controller. It also generates a living Automated Technical File from source code and operational logs.

2026 — present
Sovereign Mind

On-device RAG platform for field and industrial teams. Cited answers from an organisation's own documents, fully offline via MLX and Apertus, with iOS and web interfaces.

2026 — present
Canis

On-device LLM interpretability: a forward-only disposition lens that reads model state from J-space and visualises confidence, uncertainty, refusal and evasiveness before the model speaks.

2026 — present
Apertus-Flotilla

QLoRA fine-tune of Apertus 8B trained on operational data from the Flotilla fleet. A four-arm blind evaluation found that retrieval explained the observed performance gain; under identical retrieved context the adapter performed worse than the base model. Corpus, adapter and per-question scores are public.

2026 — present
Silicon Oracle

On-device iOS oracle using a local vision-language model and Ministral 3B. Fully local inference via MLX.

2026 — present
Classic Reel Tales

Pipeline that turns manuscripts into short vertical microdramas using generative video, voice, music and automated editing.

2025 — present
The Classical Remix

AI-assisted music project reimagining classical works across Celtic, vallenato, progressive house, EDM and other genres.

2024 — 2025

Klepsydra Technologies

Program management for ESA certification of an embedded AI inference engine for high-performance imaging in space.

2022 — 2024

OPC UA — Wire Harness Companion Spec (OPC 40570)

Led the international working group defining the OPC UA Companion Specification for the wire-harness industry, collaborating with global automotive OEMs through ARENA2036 in Stuttgart.

2020 — 2022

Next2OEM — Audi · Komax

Coordinated data communication for Komax wire-processing machines on Audi's production floor as part of a broader digital manufacturing program.

2020 — 2022

Axetris

Evaluation and selection of a Manufacturing Execution System for Axetris's semiconductor production line.

2018 — 2026

Komax — Digital Marketplace

Program-managed the digital platform for Komax, leading a team of fifteen integrating cloud services, predictive maintenance and AI-powered analytics.

2017 — 2018

Kistler

Integrated a Manufacturing Execution System with Kistler's sensor software for plastic injection-moulding machines.

2016 — 2017

Weavr — Virtual Reality Startup

Founded a platform for navigable VR environments used by cities and companies. Successful exit to BitForge AG.

2009 — 2016

digitalSTROM AG

Director of Research & Development · Schlieren, Zürich

Directed R&D for home automation. Managed thirty engineers across embedded Linux, Azure cloud back-ends and cross-platform mobile apps. Led early cloud-based voice-control work in home automation.

2005 — 2009

BridgeCo Inc. (acquired by Microchip)

Head of Digital Media Player Software Group · Dübendorf

Led software for networked audio ICs and twenty developers across Switzerland, India and Eastern Europe. Initiated the project that brought Apple AirPlay into the customer portfolio.

1996 — 2005

ESEC SA (acquired by Besi)

Group Manager & Project Manager · Cham, Zug

Architected a three-tier loosely coupled architecture for semiconductor packaging-machine control and managed a CHF 5M R&D project.

1995 — 1996

Institut für Robotik · ETH Zürich

Academic Guest · Zürich

Nanorobotics research on graphical interfaces for manipulating objects in the microworld with a high-precision robot. Three peer-reviewed publications resulted from the work.

Selected Track Record

Publications

2026
Graceful Degradation in Subscription-Constrained Multi-Agent Orchestration Systems
Independent research preprint · PDF · 75 days of production telemetry released
2026
Reading Disposition from Smartphone-Class Open Models: A Forward-Only J-Space Probe on Apertus-4B, Ministral-3B and Qwen3-4B
Independent research preprint · PDF · corpus, calibration vectors and per-item scores released
2024
A Process Model for Deriving Asset Administration Shells for Inter-Company Collaboration — A Practical Approach
Systems, Software and Services Process Improvement (Springer), pp. 217–229
2015
Using consumer behavior data to reduce energy consumption in smart homes
IEEE International Conference on Machine Learning and Applications, Miami
2015
Energy saving in smart homes based on consumer behavior: A case study
IEEE International Smart Cities Conference, Guadalajara
2012
Smart Energy Case Study
ACM BuildSys Workshop on Embedded Sensing Systems for Energy-Efficiency in Buildings, Toronto
1997
Graphical user interface to manipulate objects in the micro world with a high precision Robot
IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Albuquerque
1996
Field experiences on the implementation of a graphical user interface in microrobotics
SPIE Photonics East, Boston
1996
Human Machine Interaction for manipulations in the microworld
IEEE International Workshop on Robot and Human Communication, Tsukuba
1991
Development of a solid modeler using object oriented programming
SCOOP West, San Jose

Writing

Adventures in Digitalization
Swiss industrial software, AI agents and what actually ships.

Sci-Fi by Miguel
Short stories, novella excerpts and notes on writing science fiction in the AI era.

Books

The Lost Coins
Science-fiction thriller. Amazon

The Power of Social Media
Articles on the psychology behind social media. Amazon

Internet Funniest E-Mails
Fouque Literaturverlag, 1999 · ISBN 3-826-74358-X

Music · The Classical Remix

Classical Remix · The Celtic Mainstage · Sunlit Classics · Acordeón Clásico

Education

1989 — 1991
M.Sc. Mechanical Engineering
Texas Tech University, Lubbock TX
1985 — 1989
B.Sc. Mechanical Engineering
Universidad de las Américas, Puebla